Uplink control information transmission methods for carrier aggregation

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for transmitting uplink control information (UCI) for Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) using carrier aggregation is disclosed. Methods for UCI transmission in the uplink control channel, uplink shared channel or uplink data channel are disclosed. The methods include transmitting channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK), channel status reports (CQI/PMI/RI), source routing (SR) and sounding reference signals (SRS). In addition, methods for providing flexible configuration in signaling UCI, efficient resource utilization, and support for high volume UCI overhead in LTE-A are disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Nos.61/106,847 filed Oct. 20, 2008; 61/115,351 filed Nov. 17, 2008;61/172,127 filed Apr. 23, 2009; and 61/218,782 filed Jun. 19, 2009, allof which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This application is related to wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

Long Term Evolution (LTE) supports data rates up to 100 Mbps in thedownlink and 50 Mbps in the uplink. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) provides afivefold improvement in downlink data rates relative to LTE using, amongother techniques, carrier aggregation. Carrier aggregation may support,for example, flexible bandwidth assignments up to 100 MHz. Carriers areknown as component carriers in LTE-A.

LTE-A may operate in symmetric and asymmetric configurations withrespect to component carrier size and the number of component carriers.This is supported through the use or aggregation of up to five 20 MHzcomponent carriers. For example, a single contiguous downlink (DL) 40MHz LTE-A aggregation of multiple component carriers may be paired witha single 15 MHz uplink (UL) carrier. Non-contiguous LTE-A DL aggregatecarrier assignments may therefore not correspond with the UL aggregatecarrier assignment.

Aggregate carrier bandwidth may be contiguous where multiple adjacentcomponent carriers may occupy continuous 10, 40 or 60 MHz. Aggregatecarrier bandwidth may also be non-contiguous where one aggregate carriermay be built from more than one, but not necessarily adjacent componentcarriers. For example, a first DL component carrier of 15 MHz may beaggregated with a second non-adjacent DL component carrier of 10 MHz,yielding an overall 25 MHz aggregate bandwidth for LTE-A. Moreover,component carriers may be situated at varying pairing distances. Forexample, the 15 and 10 MHz component carriers may be separated by 30MHz, or in another setting, by only 20 MHz. As such, the number, sizeand continuity of component carriers may be different in the UL and DL.

As more than one component carrier may be used to support largertransmission bandwidths in LTE-A, a wireless transmit/receive unit(WTRU) may be required to feedback uplink control information (UCI) suchas for example, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrixindicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ), acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK), channel statusreports (CQI/PMI/RI), and source routing (SR) associated with downlinktransmission for several component carriers. This means that the numberof bits for UCI is increased compared to LTE. In addition, for uplinktransmissions, the Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) or Cubic Metric(CM) property needs to be considered. A large PAPR would cause the WTRUto back-off the power which would result in performance degradation.Accordingly, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions needto have a low PAPR or CM.

In LTE-A, it is anticipated that the UCI overhead may be increased,compared to LTE, taking into account the new features includingcoordinated multipoint transmission (CoMP), higher order DLmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), bandwidth extension, and relay.For example, in order to support high order MIMO (8×8 MIMO) and/or CoMP,a large amount of channel status reports (CQI/PMI/RI) are fed back tothe serving base station and possibly neighboring base stations as wellin CoMP. The UCI overhead will be further increased in asymmetricbandwidth extension. Accordingly, the payload size of Release 8 LTEPUCCH may not be sufficient to carry the increased UCI overhead even fora single DL component carrier in LTE-A. Therefore new methods are neededto carry UCI in a LTE-A carrier aggregation system.

SUMMARY

A method and apparatus for transmitting uplink control information (UCI)for Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) using carrier aggregation isdisclosed. Methods for UCI transmission in the uplink control channel,uplink shared channel or uplink data channel are disclosed. The methodsinclude transmitting channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrixindicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK), channel statusreports (CQI/PMI/RI), source routing (SR) and sounding reference signals(SRS). In addition, methods for providing flexible configuration insignaling UCI, efficient resource utilization, and support for highvolume UCI overhead in LTE-A is disclosed.

Methods are also disclosed for using, configuring and multiplexing of aperiodic uplink data channel to handle high volume variable sizewireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) feedback due to bandwidthextension in cases of multi-carriers, higher order multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), coordinated multi-point transmission andreception (CoMP), frequency selectivity, and other scenarios where WTRUfeedback information is large and may not use conventional periodicuplink control channels. The periodic uplink data channels carry highvolume variable size WTRU feedback information, such as precoding matrixindicator (PMI), rank indication (RI), channel quality indicator (CQI),Acknowledge/Not Acknowledge (ACK/NACK), channel state information (CSI)etc. Configuration of periodic uplink data channel, reporting mode,reporting format, is also provided. Procedures to handle collisionsbetween hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-ACK and SR with multiplexperiodic uplink data channel (control) and other uplink data channel(data) in the same subframe are disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description,given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of a wireless communication system/accessnetwork of long term evolution (LTE);

FIG. 2 are example block diagrams of a wireless transmit/receive unit(WTRU) and a base station of an LTE wireless communication system;

FIG. 3 shows example resource block allocations;

FIG. 4 shows an example of frequency multiplexing of control data;

FIG. 5 shows an example of code division multiplexing basedacknowledgement/non-acknowledgement transmission in asymmetric carrieraggregation;

FIG. 6 shows an example of frequency division multiplexing based onuplink control information (UCI) transmission using multiple physicaluplink channel (PUCCH) resource blocks; and

FIG. 7 shows an example of transmitting high volume UCI on both thePUCCH and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) from a WTRU in downlinkcoordinated multi-point transmission and reception.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

When referred to hereafter, the terminology “wireless transmit/receiveunit (WTRU)” includes but is not limited to a user equipment (UE), amobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellulartelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer, or any othertype of user device capable of operating in a wireless environment. Whenreferred to hereafter, the terminology “base station” includes but isnot limited to a Node-B, a site controller, an access point (AP), or anyother type of interfacing device capable of operating in a wirelessenvironment.

FIG. 1 shows a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communicationsystem/access network 100 that includes an Evolved-Universal TerrestrialRadio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 105. The E-UTRAN 105 includes a WTRU 110and several base stations, such as evolved Node-Bs, (eNBs) 120. The WTRU110 is in communication with an eNB 120. The eNBs 120 interface witheach other using an X2 interface. Each of the eNBs 120 interface with aMobility Management Entity (MME)/Serving GateWay (S-GW) 130 through anS1 interface. Although a single WTRU 110 and three eNBs 120 are shown inFIG. 1, it should be apparent that any combination of wireless and wireddevices may be included in the wireless communication system accessnetwork 100.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of an LTE wireless communicationsystem 200 including the WTRU 110, the eNB 120, and the MME/S-GW 130. Asshown in FIG. 2, the WTRU 110, the eNB 120 and the MME/S-GW 130 areconfigured to perform uplink control information transmission methodsfor carrier aggregation.

In addition to the components that may be found in a typical WTRU, theWTRU 110 includes a processor 216 with an optional linked memory 222, atleast one transceiver 214, an optional battery 220, and an antenna 218.The processor 216 is configured to perform uplink control informationtransmission methods for carrier aggregation. The transceiver 214 is incommunication with the processor 216 and the antenna 218 to facilitatethe transmission and reception of wireless communications. In case theoptional battery 220 is used in the WTRU 110, it powers the transceiver214 and the processor 216.

In addition to the components that may be found in a typical eNB, theeNB 120 includes a processor 217 with an optional linked memory 215,transceivers 219, and antennas 221. The processor 217 is configured toperform uplink control information transmission methods for carrieraggregation. The transceivers 219 are in communication with theprocessor 217 and antennas 221 to facilitate the transmission andreception of wireless communications. The eNB 120 is connected to theMobility Management Entity/Serving GateWay (MME/S-GW) 130 which includesa processor 233 with an optional linked memory 234.

Methods for transmitting uplink control information (UCI) for Long TermEvolution-Advanced (LTE-A) using carrier aggregation are disclosed. Anexample method using an uplink control channel such as a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) is disclosed. UCI may include channel qualityindicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators(RI), hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), acknowledgement(ACK/NACK), channel status reports (CQI/PMI/RI), source routing (SR) andsounding reference signals (SRS).

Methods are also disclosed for providing flexible configuration insignaling UCI, efficient resource utilization, and support for highvolume UCI overhead in LTE-A with respect to the PUCCH.

In an embodiment for mapping of CQI, PMI and RI to physical resourceelements in carrier aggregation, the PUCCH that carries the CQI (and anyother possible control information such as scheduling request, ACK/NACK,etc.) is transmitted on one uplink component carrier. This WTRU-specificuplink component carrier which carries the PUCCH may be configured bythe eNodeB and signaled to the WTRU with higher layer signaling, forexample RRC signaling. Alternatively, this uplink component carrier maybe signaled by the eNodeB with L1 signaling. Alternatively, this uplinkcomponent carrier may be predetermined by an implicit mapping rule.Alternatively, this uplink component carrier may be selected by theWTRU.

In an example method for transmission over one uplink component carrier,the mapping of control data or control information to physical resourceelements in carrier aggregation may comprise joint coding of the controldata for downlink (DL) component carriers. For example, the CQIcorresponding to several downlink component carriers may be jointlycoded. The terms control data and control information are usedinterchangeably throughout.

The control data bits may be modulated and then each modulated symbolmay be spread with a sequence, for example, a constant amplitude zeroautocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence like a Zadoff-Chu sequence. The lengthof the spreading sequence, denoted by N, may be equal to the length ofthe subcarriers allocated for PUCCH transmission. In LTE, N=12corresponds to the number of subcarriers in one resource block. PUCCHsof different WTRUs may use the spreading sequence with different cyclicshifts to maintain the orthogonality between them. The spread symbolsmay be mapped to the allocated subcarriers in an inverse fast Fouriertransform (IFFT) block and transmitted after the IFFT is performed. ForLTE-A, N may be larger than twelve. With a larger N, (i.e., a spreadingsequence with longer length), a WTRU may use several different cyclicshifts of the spreading sequence to transmit more than one modulateddata symbol per Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access(SC-FDMA) or Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

The number of downlink carriers for each WTRU may be different,resulting in N being different. The code orthogonality may not bemaintained if the same set of resource blocks (RBs) are used for allWTRUs each having different N. In this case, different sets of RBs maybe allocated for different sequence lengths. As an example, if there aresequence lengths of 12 k where k=1, 2, . . . 5, then five sets of RBsmay be required. In this case, the Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) isalso not increased. If a WTRU uses orthogonal sequences over the sameRBs to transmit different modulation symbols, the PAPR may be increasedafter the IFFT.

In another method, the length of the spreading sequence may be the samefor all WTRUs, for example N=12, as in LTE Release 8. Then, a WTRU maybe configured to use more RBs to transmit more modulated symbols. Forexample, five RBs may be used to transmit five modulated symbols perSC-FDMA or OFDM symbol. The same or different spreading sequences may beused on these RBs.

For example, in FIG. 3, each RB may carry one modulated symbol with aspreading sequence of twelve. Up to three RBs may be used in an SC-OFDMsymbol to transmit three modulated symbols. In this case, because morethan one sequence is used, the PAPR after the IFFT may be increased. InFIG. 3, each WTRU in LTE Release 8 uses one RB that is indexed with m.For example, m=1. N is the total number of RBs in an SC-FDMA symbol. InLTE-A, the WTRU may use more than one RB. For example, RBs indexed withm=0, 1, and 2. In this case, the WTRU uses 3 RBs. In LTE Release 8, aWTRU can use only a single RB.

To send more information in PUCCH as compared to LTE Release 8, the WTRUmay be assigned more RBs with the same spreading sequence and cyclicshift. In this case, the WTRU may spread different data symbols with thesame cyclic shift of the root sequence and map the spread symbols ondifferent sets of RBs. Alternatively, the WTRU may be assigned the sameset of RBs with more cyclic shifts of the same root sequence. In thiscase, the WTRU may spread different data symbols with different cyclicshifts of the same root sequence and map the spread symbol on the sameset of RBs. In another alternative, the WTRU may be assigned more RBswith possibly different spreading sequences and cyclic shifts. In thiscase, the WTRU may spread different data symbols with possibly differentcyclic shifts of different root sequences and map the spread symbol ondifferent sets of RBs. In yet another alternative, the WTRU may beassigned a combination of the above. The assignment may be performedwith L1 or L2/L3 signaling or pre-determined by an implicit mappingrule.

To control the PAPR increase, an adaptive PUCCH transmission method maybe used where power-limited WTRUs may be required to transmit fewermodulated control data symbols in an SC-OFDM symbol. These WTRUs, forexample may be assigned only a single downlink carrier. Alternatively,these WTRUs may be required to report wideband CQI/PMI/RI which requiresa smaller number of bits or these WTRUs may be configured to use moresubframes to transmit the whole control information. For example, in onesubframe, the WTRU may transmit the control information corresponding toonly one downlink component carrier and complete transmitting thecontrol information corresponding to all component carriers in severalsubframes. For example, in subframe 1, the WTRU may transmit controlinformation for downlink component carrier #1, and then in subframe 2,the WTRU may transmit the control information for downlink componentcarrier #2, etc. The WTRU configuration may be performed with L1 orL2/L3 signaling.

The carrier (or spectrum) edge resource blocks (RBs) may be used forcontrol data transmission when an LTE-A network is configured to use LTEuplink control channel structure, as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3for LTE Release 8, the WTRU uses two different RBs in the two timeslots. For example, the RB indexed with m=1 is used by one WTRU, and m=1is on opposite edges of the frequency in the two time slots. RBs onopposite edges of the spectrum may be used in two time slots for maximumfrequency diversity. In this case, LTE-A and LTE Release 8 WTRUs may beconfigured to share the same PUCCH resources within the uplink (UL)carrier.

Alternatively, a predetermined portion of resources may be reserved andallocated for LTE-A PUCCH only. In this case, PUCCH's of LTE WTRUs andLTE-A WTRUs may use different RBs.

When there are multiple UL carriers (including one LTE carrier)available for the LTE-A WTRU, PUCCH transmission may be performed in oneof the LTE-A carriers (excluding the LTE carrier), in order to avoid thecontrol data to RE mapping collision with LTE, where RE is a resourceelement. In this case, the assignment of a LTE-A carrier may beperformed on channel conditions, e.g. using the best component carrierover all the carriers.

In another example method for transmission over one uplink componentcarrier, the WTRU and the base station may be configured for separatecoding of control for downlink (DL) carriers. In this example, thecontrol data bits for different downlink carriers may be codedseparately and then modulated. The methods disclosed herein above may beused for mapping to physical resource elements.

The control information for each downlink carrier may be transmitted byusing different RBs, different spreading sequences/cyclic shifts or acombination of these. As an example, RBs m=1 and m=3 may be used forcontrol data transmission corresponding to two different downlinkcarriers. In this case, the mapping of the control data resources(frequency, sequence, cyclic shift) to the downlink carrier may beperformed with L1 and/or L2/L3 signaling. This mapping may also beperformed implicitly by using mapping rules. For example, the CQI forthe second downlink carrier may be transmitted with the same spreadingsequence/cyclic shift pair as for the first downlink carrier but on thenext available RB.

In another embodiment for mapping of CQI, PMI and RI to physicalresource elements in carrier aggregation, the PUCCH that carries the CQI(and any other possible control information such as scheduling request,ACK/NACK, etc.) is transmitted on more than one uplink componentcarrier. In an example method for transmission on more than one uplinkcarrier, there is one PUCCH per UL component carrier carrying controlinformation corresponding to one DL component carrier. The same PUCCHstructure as in LTE may be used in each uplink carrier. Uplink carriersand downlink carriers may be linked to each other. Alternatively, if acomponent carrier is also used for LTE WTRUs, then no resourceallocation is made for LTE-A PUCCH, in order to avoid resource collisionbetween LTE-A PUCCH and LTE PUCCH. Alternatively, a certain portion ofresources may be reserved and allocated for LTE-A PUCCH only. In thiscase, PUCCH's of LTE WTRUs and LTE-A WTRUs will use different RBs. Thismay allow the network to maintain backward compatibility with LTE.

In another example method for transmission on more than one uplinkcarrier, one PUCCH per UL component carrier may carry control datacorresponding to several DL component carriers. In this example, acombination of the methods disclosed hereinabove may be implemented. Theuplink carrier and the corresponding downlink carriers may be linked toeach other. Several methods are available for transmitting the controldata information. In an example, the control information transmitted oneach uplink carrier (corresponding to one or several DL componentcarriers) may be coded separately. In another example, the controlinformation transmitted on each uplink carrier corresponding todifferent downlink carriers may be coded separately. In yet anotherexample, the control information transmitted over all uplink carriersmay be coded jointly.

In another embodiment for mapping of CQI, PMI, RI and ACK/NACK tophysical resource elements in carrier aggregation, frequencydiversity/hopping over different uplink carriers may be implemented. ThePUCCH data may be transmitted on different uplink carriers at differenttime instances. For example, when the PUCCH may be transmitted only onone uplink carrier at any time to maintain low PAPR, the PUCCH may betransmitted on different UL component carriers using intra-subframe orinter-subframe hopping. The same PUCCH can be repeated on differentuplink carriers.

Disclosed hereinafter are the different reporting modes for the CQIinformation. In LTE, there are three main CQI reporting modes: WTRUselected, base station configured subband reporting and widebandreporting. In WTRU selected mode, the WTRU selects the best M subbandsand reports the CQI and PMI to the base station. In the base stationconfigured mode, the base station configures a set of subbands, and theWTRU reports the CQI/PMI of the whole set or a subset of the set.

In an example method for use with multiple downlink carriers, theCQI/PMI/RI for each downlink carrier may be selected independently. Inanother example method for use with multiple downlink carriers, all orseveral of the downlink carriers may form an aggregated bandwidth andthe CQI/PMI/RI may be reported by using this bandwidth. The subbandsselected may be different in each carrier or they may span more than onecarrier. For example, if there are N carriers, each with k RBs, then asingle carrier of Nk RBs may be assumed, and accordingly a widebandCQI/PMI and a single RI over Nk RBs may be reported. This approach maybe more useful when the carriers are contiguous. The latter examplemethod may be used when the aggregated carriers are contiguous andformer example method may be used over sets of non-contiguous carriers.

For purposes of discussion, a WTRU has an ‘assigned’ carrier andpossibly other ‘associated’ carriers. This is also referred to as“anchor” and “non-anchor” component carriers. The assigned carrier is aprimary carrier that e.g., may correspond to the carrier that WTRU maymonitor to for PDCCH information. The WTRU also has associated carriers(secondary) which are, for example, carriers that the WTRU is informedmay have granted physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) RBs, and thusCQI reporting may be required. Associated and assigned carriers may besemi-statically configured, but may also modified by discontinuousreception (DRX) periods, e.g., if one or more of the carriers is DRX fora WTRU, it may not be required to send CQI information that wouldcorrespond to a DRX time-frequency.

In one reporting example, the WTRU is informed via L1, L2/3, orbroadcast signaling, which carriers within the LTE-A aggregation itshould report the the best M subbands and CQI/PMI/RI information. Thebest M subbands are not preferentially from any particular componentcarrier.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU selecting the carriers within the LTE-Aaggregation for which the WTRU should report the best M1 subbands andCQI/PMI/RI information, where M1 is associated with the subcarriers inan assigned carrier. Additionally the signal may select which componentcarriers within the LTE-A aggregation that the WTRU may report the bestM2 subbands and CQI/PMI/RI information, where M2 is associated with thesubcarriers in the associated carriers. For example, WTRU may beconfigured to report the best M1 subbands from the carrier it isassigned to listen for PDCCH and reports the best M2 subbands from Kspecific other carriers.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU that identifies or selects the carriers withinthe LTE-A aggregation for which the WTRU should report the best Msubbands and CQI/PMI/RI information for each associated DL carrier,e.g., the CQI for best M subbands within each carrier are reported.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU that identifies or selects the carrier withinthe LTE-A aggregation for which the WTRU should report the wideband CQI,e.g., where the wideband CQI report corresponds to the carrier that theWTRU is assigned to listen to for the PDCCH, i.e., wideband assignedcarrier CQI reporting.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU indicating which carriers are associatedcarriers within the LTE-A aggregation for which it should report carrierwide CQI/PMI/RI. The WTRU may be configured to transmit a networkdefined set of wideband CQI reports. Carrier wide is meant to cover thefact that “associated carriers” may mean multiple carriers and we wantto report for all. In addition, separate reports for each of thesecomponent carriers may be sent.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU indicating which carriers are associatedcarriers within the LTE-A aggregation for which the WTRU should reportthe best M carrier wide CQI/PMI/RI information.

In another reporting example, L1, L2/3, or broadcast signaling may betransmitted to the WTRU selecting the carriers within the LTE-Aaggregation for which the WTRU should report the aggregate CQI/PMI/RIinformation, i.e, an aggregate bandwidth wideband CQI.

In another reporting example, the WTRU may be informed for whichcarriers within the aggregation band it should report the best M carrierwide CQI/PMI/RI information and wideband CQI/PMI/RI information. Forexample, the WTRU may report best M CQI for the primary carrier butwideband CQI for the secondary carriers.

In each of the reporting examples, the WTRU may be informed as to whichcarriers a report should be transmitted or the WTRU may select the bestM as appropriate.

The subband size for the frequency selective CQI/PMI/RI reports may bebased on the number of RBs in the corresponding carrier for which thereport is given. Alternatively, the subband sizes may be based on thefull configuration bandwidth of the system. Alternatively, the subbandsizes may be based on the sum bandwidth of the assigned and associatedcarriers. Alternatively, the subband sizes may be signaled by higherlayers or broadcast.

Disclosed hereinafter are methods for transmitting sounding referencesignals (SRS) to the base station. In LTE, a SRS may be transmitted toenable the base station to estimate the uplink channel. Example methodsare disclosed for transmitting the SRS when there is more than oneuplink carrier.

In an example method, the SRS may be transmitted in all or some of theuplink carriers. The carriers for which an SRS is required may bescheduled by L2/3 signaling and sounding may occur at the same time inall carriers. For example, carrier 1 may be sounded at subframe k,carrier 2 may be sounded at subframe k+n, etc. This is time andfrequency multiplexing. The time difference between SRS's in differentcarriers may be fixed, or signaled by L2/3, or broadcast. The poweroffset of SRS's in different carriers may be controlled by a carrierspecific offset parameter and provided by higher layers.

In another example method, the SRS may be transmitted in all or some ofthe uplink carriers and each carrier may have an independent associatedSRS schedule. The power offset of SRS's in different carriers may becontrolled by a carrier specific offset parameter and provide by higherlayers.

In another example method, the SRS may be transmitted in only one uplinkcarrier. This carrier may be configured by the base station.

In another example method, when an SRS transmission collides with thePUCCH, the methods for processing collisions in LTE such as puncturingof ACK/NACK, etc. may be used or, the PUCCH may be transmitted inanother uplink carrier while the SRS is transmitted in the currentcarrier.

In another example method, non-overlapping frequency bands of uplinkcarriers may be sounded. For example, when two carriers of 20 MHz areused for uplink, 0-10 MHz of the first carrier and 10-20 MHz of thesecond carrier may be sounded.

In another example method, when contiguous carriers are aggregated asingle SRS may be used to sound the whole transmission bandwidth.

Disclosed herein are example methods for ACK/NACK bundling andmultiplexing. When there are multiple downlink carriers, there may beone or more multiple codewords for each downlink carrier. In the uplink,transmission of a ACK/NACK bit may be required for each codewordtransmitted in the downlink.

A method to reduce the signaling overhead to transmit ACK/NACK bits mayuse bundling where the ACK/NACK bits for more than one codeword are“ANDed” together and a single ACK/NACK bit may be transmitted in theuplink. When PUCCH is mapped to one uplink component carrier, theACK/NACK bit is transmitted on this uplink component carrier.

When each downlink carrier is used to transmit more than one codeword(e.g. two codewords), for example when MIMO is used, an example methodmay have the ACK/NACKs corresponding to the first and second codewordstransmitted over the carriers combined together. The final two bits, onerepresenting the aggregate ACK/NACK of the first codewords and thesecond representing the ACK/NACK of the second codewords, may betransmitted as a single ACK/NACK symbol with quadrature phase shiftkeying (QPSK) modulation.

When a downlink component carrier is used to transmit two or morecodewords, an example method to reduce signaling overhead may havebundling occur such that a single ACK/NACK bit/symbol may be producedfor one downlink component carrier.

Bundling may occur such that a single ACK/NACK bit corresponding to thetransmission over all downlink component carriers is produced. Forexample, all ACK/NACK bits that correspond to all codewords transmittedon all downlink component carriers may be “AND”ed together.Alternatively bundling may occur such that several ACK/NACK bits thatcorrespond to the transmission over all downlink component carriers maybe produced.

As proposed above, the ACK/NACK control information may be mapped to oneUE-specific uplink component carrier which is configured to carry thePUCCH.

The ACK/NACK bits may be transmitted by using frequency domain and timedomain multiplexing with orthogonal codes, as in LTE. For example, ifthe maximum number of codewords transmitted over all downlink carriersis m, then there may be m bundled ACK/NACK bits. If QPSK modulation isused, this corresponds to m/2 ACK/NACK symbols. These bits/symbols maybe transmitted by frequency/time/code multiplexing. Although“multiplexing” terminology is used, any form of combined reporting isapplicable where multiple bits can be effectively reduced to a smallersubset of bits and still effectively represent the original set of bits.

In another embodiment for transmitting UCI in the PUCCH, it is assumedthat when LTE Release 8 WTRUs and LTE-A WTRUs share the same physicalresources to transmit on the PUCCH, code division multiplexing (CDM)spreading may be used to transmit data on PUCCH to maintain theorthogonality of the PUCCHs. CDM is a technique in which each channeltransmits its bits as a coded channel-specific sequence of pulses.

In an example method for this embodiment, LTE-A WTRUs may spread their Mmodulation symbols with M spreading sequences and map the spreadingsequences to M consecutive radio blocks (RBs). The M spreading sequencesmay be selected from the different root sequences or cyclic shifts ofthe same root sequence or a combination of both. The M sequences may beselected such that the resulting cubic metric (CM) is low. In order toobtain a low CM, the CM of all possible combinations for M sequences iscomputed and the set of combinations having the lowest CM is thanpre-selected. These combinations may either be signaled to the WTRU byhigher layer signaling, i.e., via WTRU-specific or cell-specificsignaling.

In another example method for this embodiment, LTE-A WTRUs may spreadtheir N modulation symbols with N cyclic shifts of the same rootsequence and map the modulation symbols to the same RB. The N cyclicshifts for each root sequence may be selected such that the resulting CMis low. To achieve this, the CM of all possible combinations for Ncyclic shifts is computed and the set of combinations with the lowest oracceptable CM is than pre-selected. These combinations may either besignaled to the WTRU by higher layer signaling, i.e., via WTRU-specificor cell-specific signaling.

In another example method for this embodiment, a combination of thefirst and second example methods disclosed hereinabove may be used toachieve transmission on PUCCH.

In another example method for this embodiment, spreading sequences suchas Zadoff-Chu sequence (which belongs to the constant amplitude zeroautocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence family) and other spreading sequencesmay be used when LTE-A WTRUs share the same resources.

In another embodiment for transmitting UCI in the PUCCH, it is assumedthat the LTE Release 8 WTRUs and LTE-A WTRUs do not share the samephysical resources to transmit on the PUCCH.

In this embodiment, a specific time-frequency location is reserved forthe transmission of PUCCH data for LTE-A WTRUs. The location may beLTE-A specific, may be larger than that of reserved for LTE, and may usethe same spreading sequences as in LTE.

In this embodiment, different multiplexing schemes may be used toachieve multiplexing the control data among different WTRUs. In anexample method of this embodiment, the multiplexing of control dataamong different WTRUs may be achieved by using frequency divisionmultiplexing (FDM) in frequency domain. As illustrated in FIG. 4, WTRUsmay map their modulation symbols into different subcarriers in thereserved PUCCH resources. Each type of shading (i.e., cross-hatching,dots, vertical lines, etc) represents the allocation for a specificWTRU. Each WTRU uses the resources indicated with one shading only. Onemodulation symbol may be repeated over several consecutive or disjointsubcarriers and the control data may be discrete Fourier transform (DFT)precoded in order to keep the CM low.

The reserved PUCCH resources may consist of localized subcarriers ordistributed subcarriers over a large (or even over the whole) frequencyband. In addition, the reserved PUCCH resources may consist of clustersof localized subcarriers or sets of distributed subcarriers over apre-defined frequency band. The control data may be repeated overseveral orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols toimprove coverage. Furthermore, block spreading (i.e., spreading in timeover OFDM symbols by orthogonal codes such as Walsh codes), may also beused.

In another multiplexing example, multiplexing of control data amongdifferent WTRUS may be achieved by using code division multiplexing(CDM). In this example method, a modulation symbol is spread with aspreading sequence, i.e., with CAZAC sequences over 1 RB. Several (sameor different) sequences maybe used over different consecutive RBs toincrease the data rate. The DFT-precoding may be applied after spreadingin to reduce the CM.

The number of transmitted control bits of a WTRU may be increased bytransmitting several orthogonal sequences over the same frequency band,for example, by transmitting cyclic shifts of the same root sequenceover the same RB. DFT-precoding may be also applied after spreading withmultiple orthogonal sequences, due to the fact that when CAZACsequences, the cyclic shifts of the same root sequence maintainorthogonality even after DFT. Due to the ability to maintain thisorthogonality, this example method may also be used when LTE and LTE-AWTRUs share the same physical resources for PUCCH transmission, as perthe first embodiment. Accordingly, pursuant to this embodiment, thecontrol data of LTE-A WTRUs is spread using a CAZAC sequence, then thedata is DFT precoded and mapped to subcarriers on an inverse fastFourier transform (IFFT) block. Note that the control data may berepeated over several OFDM symbols, for example, for coverageimprovement.

The sequence selection methods previously disclosed with respect to thefirst embodiment may also be used to maintain low PAPR/CM. In this case,the combinations among all possible combinations of sequences with lowCM may be selected, resulting in low CM even without DFT-precoding. Thecombinations may be signaled to the WTRU by higher layer signaling, i.e.via WTRU specific or cell-specific signaling.

In the embodiment where LTE Release 8 WTRUs and LTE-A WTRUs do not sharethe same physical resources to transmit on the PUCCH, hopping may beused to achieve better frequency diversity. Hopping may be implementedby transmitting control information on different frequency bands betweenslots, between subframes, or between component carriers, or anycombination of frequency bands, slots, subframes and component carriers.The control data may also be transmitted on more than one componentcarrier simultaneously for signal to interference+noise ration (SINR)improvement.

In accordance with the embodiment where LTE Release 8 WTRUs and LTE-AWTRUs do not share the same physical resources to transmit on the PUCCH,when orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is used as acomplementary air interface for uplink transmission, the first and thesecond embodiments may also be used. However, in this case DFT precodingis not required since CM is not an issue. The transmission method may bespecified or configured by WTRU or cell-specific signaling.

In another embodiment for transmitting or signaling UCI in the PUCCH,UCI may be signaled over multiple PUCCH resources using CDM, FDM, timedivision multiplexing (TDM) or a combination thereof. This embodimentmay be used, for example, when high volume UCI is required for LTE-A.

In an example method of this embodiment, CDM based UCI signaling may beused. In CDM, different orthogonal phase rotations (equivalently cyclicshifts) of a cell-specific length-12 frequency domain (or time domain)sequence are applied for each bit (or a group of bits, or differentcontrol fields) of UCI. For example, in the case of asymmetric bandwidthextension (such as 2 downlink (DL) component carriers and 1 uplink (UL)component carrier), HARQ ACK/NACK bits for different DL componentcarriers are transmitted in a single UL carrier using different phaserotations of a cell-specific sequence. Alternatively or additionally, asshown in FIG. 5, ACK/NACK bits for different DL carriers may betransmitted (on the same time-frequency resource) using the same phaserotated sequence, but using different orthogonal cover sequences, w¹ andw² for Carrier-1 and Carrier-2, respectively.

In another example method of this embodiment, FDM based UCI signaling isused where each bit (or a group of bits like ACK/NACK bits and CQI bits,or different control fields) of UCI may be transmitted using a differentRB pair within a pre-configured PUCCH region (i.e., PUCCH resources).FIG. 6 shows an example of using multiple PUCCH RB resources (i.e., FDMbased) for transmitting high volume UCI (e.g., multiple UCI reports)such that ACK/NACK is transmitted over the RB corresponding to m=0,while CQI/PMI/RI is transmitted over a different RB like the RBcorresponding to m=2. Alternatively or additionally, in the case ofasymmetric bandwidth extension (such as 2 DL component carriers and 1 ULcomponent carrier), UCI bit(s) for different DL component carriers aretransmitted over different RB pairs such as m=0, 2 for Carrier-1 andCarrier-2, respectively.

In another example method of this embodiment, TDM based UCI signaling isused where each bit (or a group of bits like ACK/NACK bits and CQI bits,or different control fields) of UCI is transmitted with time divisionbase (TDB) on an OFDM symbol basis, on a slot basis, or on a subframebasis.

In another example method of this embodiment, high order modulationbased UCI signaling is used. Higher order modulation may be applied suchas 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) for PUCCH to deal withhigh volume UCI in LTE-A. In this example, the power setting for PUCCHincludes a power offset to reflect the fact that different SINR isrequired for different modulation schemes.

In the embodiments disclosed herein, the WTRU may be configured by thebase station through higher layer signaling or L1 signaling regardingwhich PUCCH resources (time/frequency/code) are allocated to the WTRU.The Release 8 LTE PUCCH formats may be backward compatible. In addition,in the case of CDM and FDM, the CM (cubic metric) may be increaseddepending on the number of resources (codes/phase rotations or RBs) inuse. Accordingly, the impact of CM on the power setting for PUCCH may beconsidered, that is, applying a power backoff by an amount of the CMincrease, if any.

Methods for providing flexible configuration in signaling UCI, efficientresource utilization, and support for high volume UCI overhead in LTE-Aare disclosed hereinafter with respect to physical uplink shared controlchannel (PUSCH).

In an embodiment, one or multiple periodic PUSCH reporting modes may beused to support UCI reporting for high volume variable size WTRUfeedback information or UCI information. Periodic PUSCH is used fortransmitting large size WTRU feedback or UCIs corresponding to multiplecarriers. In this example method, it is assumed that multiple CQIs,PMIs, RIs, CSIs, etc. may be needed for multiple carriers. For a singlecarrier, one UCI i.e. one set of CQI, PMI, RI, etc. is required to befed back from the WTRU to the base station. For multiple carriers,multiple sets of CQI, PMI, RI, etc. are required to be fed back from theWTRU to the base station. This may significantly increase the amount ofWTRU feedback information. The number of carriers that are configuredmay change (likely in a semi-static manner), and the size of WTRUfeedback may vary accordingly.

Periodic PUSCH may also be used for transmitting UCI for multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO). In this example it is assumed that high orderMIMO may require large size UCIs to be fed back e.g., large codebooksize may be needed for high order MIMO. In addition, different types ofWTRU feedback such as channel quantization instead of codebook index orPMI may be needed. This contributes to increased payload size for UCI.

Periodic PUSCH may also be used for transmitting UCI for coordinatedmultipoint transmission (CoMP). In this example it is assumed that largepayload size UCIs may be needed to enable advanced CoMP schemes. Channelquantization instead of codebook index (e.g., PMI) may be needed toenable advanced CoMP schemes. Multiple PMIs or CSIs etc. for differentcells, sites, base stations, etc. in coordinated group may be needed forcertain CoMP schemes. Different CoMP schemes e.g., joint transmission,coordinated beamforming, etc. may require different amount of PMIs,CSIs, etc.

If joint transmission based CoMP, one composite CSI or PMI for multiplecells/sites/base stations may be sufficient. This is becausetransmission comes from multiple antennas of multiple sites jointly.Composite channel can be measured in RS. If coordinated beamforming isused, multiple CSI or PMI for multiple cells/sites/base stations may beneeded. This is because the WTRU may feed back h1 (e.g., CSI1), and h2(e.g., CSI2) to base station 1 and base station 1 may forward h2 (CSI2)to base station 2 which may form a beam to another WTRU with h3 (e.g.,CSI3) but try to minimize the interference via h2 to the given WTRU. Soboth h1(e.g., CSI1) and h2 (CSI2) may need to feed back to base station1.

Periodic PUSCH may also be used for UCI transmission for frequencyselective precoding or beamforming. Frequency selective reporting orsubband reporting may require multiple UCI feedback, e.g., multiplePMIs, CSIs, etc. may be reported for different subbands within carrier.

An example method for using an uplink data channel to carry UCI isdisclosed herein. A periodic uplink data channel may be used, such asfor example, PUSCH to carry WTRU feedback information or UCI. One orseveral periodic PUSCH reporting modes are added to support periodicPUSCH-based reporting for carrier aggregation (multi-carrier forbandwidth extension), high order MIMO, CoMP and frequency selectivity. Asummary of Physical Channels for aperiodic or periodic CQI reporting areshown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Physical Channels for Aperiodic or Periodic CQI reportingPeriodic CQI Aperiodic CQI Scheduling Mode reporting channels reportingchannel Frequency non-selective PUCCH Frequency selective PUCCH, PUSCHPUSCH Carrier aggregation PUSCH High order MIMO/CoMP PUSCH

Several reporting modes based on periodic PUSCH are disclosed herein. AWTRU is semi-statically configured by higher layers to periodically feedback different CQI, PMI, CSI, and RI or their combinations on the PUSCH.CQI, PMI, CSI, RI, etc. or their combinations may be defined for eachreporting mode. For example, one possibility is to have a reporting modeto report the same CQI, PMI, RI carried by periodic PUCCH for a singlecarrier but extend it to multiple carriers. In this case N sets of CQI,PMI, RI, etc. for N carriers may be associated with this reporting modeand are reported in periodic PUSCH. It may follow the same periodicPUCCH reporting but aggregate WTRU feedback information CQI, PMI, RI,etc. from multiple carriers and report them in periodic PUSCH. Infrequency selective case, it may report CQI, PMI, etc. corresponding tomultiple carriers, e.g., different bandwidth parts in differentsubframes.

It may also be possible to report all CQI, PMI, etc. e.g., of alldifferent bandwidth parts in the same subframe instead of in differentsubframes. Another possibility is to define new CQI, PMI, RI, CSI, etc.and their combinations to be reported for different reporting modesusing periodic PUSCH. Different combinations of CQI, PMI, CSI or RI,etc. may be defined for multiple carriers, high order MIMO, CoMP,frequency selectivity or combination of them.

In addition, if different transmission modes are supported for carriers,combinations of CQI, PMI, CSI or RI, etc. may also be defined forreporting for such cases. Furthermore if each carrier may be linked todifferent cells, sites, base stations in CoMP and CoMP group size may bedifferent for different carriers, combinations of CQI, PMI, CSI or RI,etc. may also be defined for reporting for such case.

Some example reporting modes are given in Tables 2 and 3, where WB CQIstands for wideband CQI. SB CQI stands for subband CQI.

TABLE 2 Example CQI and PMI Feedback Types for Periodic PUSCH reportingModes for Carrier aggregation PMI Feedback Type Single PMI No PMI perCarrier Feedback Wideband Mode 1-0 e.g., Mode 1-1 e.g., Type (widebandCQI) N WB CQI N WB PMI for N carriers for N carriers PUCCH WTRU SelectedMode 2-0 e.g., Mode 2-1 e.g., CQI (subband CQI) N sets of SB CQI N setsof SB CQI for N carriers for N carriers N WB PMI for N carriers

TABLE 3 Example CQI and PMI/CSI Feedback Types for Periodic PUSCHreporting Modes for high order MIMO/CoMP PMI Feedback Type SinglePMI/CSI No PMI per Carrier Feedback Wideband Mode 1-0 e.g. Mode 1-1e.g., Type (wideband CQI) N WB CQI N WB PMI/CSI for N carriers for Ncarriers PUCCH WTRU Selected e.g., Mode 2-0 Mode 2-1 e.g., CQI (subbandCQI) N sets of SB CQI N sets of SB CQI for N carriers for N carriers, NWB PMI/CSI for N carriers

In another example for sending high volume UCI on PUSCH, when the UCIpayload size is large (such as the sum of the number of HARQ bits andnumber of information bits for CQI/PMI/RI is larger than a threshold),so that it cannot fit into a PUCCH resource, the UCI is sent on PUSCHwith or without uplink shared channle (UL-SCH) data (depending onwhether the WTRU has been scheduled for data transmission or not). Inthis method, it is not necessary that the WTRU has been scheduled fordata transmission on PUSCH to carry the UCI. Rather, the WTRU may beconfigured by higher layer signaling or L1/2 signaling when the UCI iscarried on PUSCH.

Disclosed hereinafter are methods for configuring periodic PUSCH,indicating resources, and other related procedures. Periodic PUSCH maybe configured for transmitting UCI via radio resource control (RRC)configuration. RRC configuration may include release, setup of periodicPUSCH reporting mode, reporting interval or periodicity, reportingformats, etc.

Disclosed herein are different methods for indicating periodic PUSCHresources. In an example, the indication may be done using the physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH). In conjunction with RRC configuration,PDCCH may be used to indicate the periodic PUSCH resource, e.g.,resource size, RB allocation, etc. Periodic PUSCH resource size may bedifferent due to e.g., different carrier aggregation configurations,etc. In another example, periodic PUSCH resources may be indicated usinga fixed allocation. Resources may be reserved for periodic PUSCH(similar to resources reserved for periodic PUCCH). Reserved resourcesfor periodic PUSCH may be located in fixed locations (e.g., edge ofbandwidth for frequency diversity). The reserved PUSCH resources may bepartitioned into several partitions. An indication to which periodicPUSCH resources (e.g., partition) to use may be configured by higherlayer signaling e.g., RRC.

PDCCH may be transmitted to indicate periodic PUSCH resources in thescheduled reporting interval after RRC configuration. Several methods toindicate periodic PUSCH resources are disclosed herein.

In an example method, a static indication is used. In this method, PDCCHis used to indicate parameters such as resources, etc. for periodicPUSCH in the beginning. After that the parameters remain the same untilperiodic PUSCH is released by RRC. If PDCCH is received and PDSCH isdecoded successfully, resources, etc. for periodic PUSCH is indicated.The same parameters e.g. RB allocation are used for periodic PUSCH untilreleased by RRC. In one example, only periodic PUSCH may be allowed tobe transmitted in scheduled interval. In one example, concurrenttransmission of periodic PUSCH (control) and PUSCH (data) may also beallowed. In this case in the subsequent intervals, PDCCH UL assignmentmay be used for data PUSCH and not for periodic PUSCH.

In an example method, a semi-static indication is used. In this method,PDCCH is used to indicate resources, etc. for periodic PUSCH not only inthe beginning but also in the subsequent reporting intervals. In otherwords parameters such as resources, etc. may be changed in the nextreporting instance. This may achieve scheduling gain for each reportinginstance. PDCCH may be transmitted in every interval. In this case RBallocation may be changed dynamically in each scheduled reportinginterval for periodic PUSCH. The WTRU may monitor PDCCH for periodicPUSCH in each scheduled reporting interval. The base station may or maynot transmit PDCCH corresponding to periodic PUSCH in every scheduledinterval. Periodic PUSCH (control) and PUSCH (data) may merge on PUSCHresources and share the grant. CQI request bit may be used to indicateif the grant received in the scheduled reporting interval is applied toperiodic PUSCH (control) only or applied to both periodic PUSCH(control) and PUSCH (data).

In an example method, another semi-static indication is used. In thismethod, to reduce signaling overhead, only for every L reportinginterval the PDCCH may be sent for periodic PUSCH. In this case, WTRUmay only need to monitor PDCCH for periodic PUSCH in every L scheduledreporting interval. This may reduce the flexibility since PDCCH may notbe transmitted in every scheduled interval for periodic PUSCH, howeverit reduces the complexity that WTRU has to monitor and decode PDCCHevery interval. This may be applied if only periodic PUSCH is allowed tobe transmitted in the scheduled interval.

Disclosed hereinafter are different methods on how periodic PUSCH may beactivated or released for transmitting UCI using PDCCH. In one method,periodic PUSCH may be activated via PDCCH and once it is activated, theWTRU may report UCIs periodically using periodic PUSCH resources untilit is de-activated. In another method, after periodic PUSCH reportingmode is configured by RRC, activation PDCCH is used to activate periodicPUSCH reporting mode. Activation PDCCH also indicates the periodic PUSCHresources. In another method, deactivation of periodic PUSCH may be donevia another PDCCH which releases periodic PUSCH reporting.

Disclosed herein are implementation embodiments to configure uplink datachannel for transmitting UCI. In Release 8 LTE, the periodic CQIreporting mode is given by the parameter, cqi-FormatIndicatorPeriodicwhich is configured by higher-layer signaling. In one example, theperiodic PUSCH-based CQI reporting mode is given by the parameter Xe.g., cqi-FormatIndicatorPeriodicPUSCH which is configured byhigher-layer signaling. Depending on transmission mode, reporting modeis implicitly given.

In another method, the periodic PUSCH-based CQI reporting mode is givenby the parameter Y e.g., cqi-ReportModePeriodicPUSCH which is configuredby higher-layer signaling. Reporting mode is explicitly given via thisparameter.

In Release 8 LTE, the CQI/PMI or RI report shall be transmitted on thePUSCH resource n_(PUCCH) ⁽²⁾, where n_(PUCCH) ⁽²⁾ is WTRU specific andconfigured by higher layers.

Disclosed herein are methods for determining which PUSCH resources areused for transmitting UCI information. In one method, the CQI/PMI or RIreport may be transmitted on the periodic PUSCH resource, which is WTRUspecific and is indicated by a WTRU-specific PDCCH. Alternatively,periodic PUSCH resources may be configured by higher layers. RBsallocation, modulation code scheme (MCS), etc. for periodic PUSCHresources may be indicated using L1/2 control signaling e.g., PDCCHsignaling or higher layer signaling e.g., RRC signaling.

Disclosed herein are methods to configure periodic PUSCH reporting andresource indication. In one method, configuration is done using RRCsignaling. RRC configuration may include release, setup of periodicPUSCH reporting mode, reporting interval or periodicity, reportingformats, etc. All the parameters e.g., resource, RB location, MCS, etc.are sent via RRC signaling.

In another method, configuration is done via RRC/PDCCH. Some parameters,e.g., reporting mode, periodicity, etc. are sent via RRC signaling, andthe other parameters e.g., resources, RB location, MCS, etc. areindicated via L1 control signaling e.g., PDCCH.

In another method, configuration is done via RRC/PDCCH with code-pointvalidation. Some parameters, e.g., reporting mode, periodicity, etc. aresent via RRC signaling, and the other parameters e.g., resources, RBlocation, MCS, etc. are indicated via L1 control signaling e.g., PDCCH.In addition some code-points are defined for PDCCH validation.Validation is achieved if all the fields for the respective useddownlink control indicator (DCI) format are set according to, forexample, as shown in Table 4. If validation is achieved, the WTRU mayconsider the received DCI information accordingly as a valid periodicPUSCH activation.

TABLE 4 Special fields for Periodic PUSCH Activation PDCCH ValidationDCI format 0 TPC command for scheduled PUSCH NA or set to ‘00’ Cyclicshift DM RS set to ‘000’ Modulation and coding scheme and NA or MSB isset to ‘0’ redundancy version HARQ process number N/A Modulation andcoding scheme N/A Redundancy version N/A

In another method, configuration is done via RRC with PDCCHactivation/release. Some parameters, e.g., reporting mode, etc. are sentvia RRC signaling, and other parameters e.g., resources, etc. areindicated via L1 control signaling e.g., PDCCH. In addition somecode-points are used for PDCCH validation. During the time or period ofperiodic PUSCH, periodic PUSCH reporting may be dynamically turned onand off. This may be achieved by PDCCH activation and release.Validation is achieved if all the fields for the respective used DCIformat are set according to, for example, Table 4 or Table 5. Ifvalidation is achieved, the WTRU may consider the received DCIinformation accordingly as a valid periodic PUSCH activation or release.If validation is not achieved, the received DCI format shall beconsidered by the WTRU as having been received with a non-matchingcyclic redundancy check (CRC).

TABLE 5 Special fields for Periodic PUSCH Release PDCCH Validation DCIformat 0 TPC command for scheduled PUSCH NA or set to ‘00’ Cyclic shiftDM RS set to ‘000’ Modulation and coding scheme and NA or set to ‘11111’redundancy version Resource block assignment and NA or Set to all ‘1’shopping resource allocation HARQ process number N/A Modulation andcoding scheme N/A Redundancy version N/A Resource block assignment N/A

Disclosed herein are example procedures for PDCCH indication methods.When periodic PUSCH is enabled by RRC, the following information may beprovided by higher layer: periodic PUSCH interval periodicPUSCHIntervaland number of empty transmissions before implicit releaseimplicitReleaseAfter, if periodic PUSCH is enabled. When periodic PUSCHis disabled by RRC, the corresponding configured grant may be discarded.

After a periodic PUSCH uplink grant is configured, the WTRU may considerthat the grant for periodic PUSCH recurs in each subframe for which:

−(10*SFN+subframe)=[(10*SFN_(start time)+subframe_(start time))+N*PeriodicPUSCHInterval+Subframe_Offset*(Nmodulo 2)]modulo10240, for all N>0.

where SFNstart time and subframestart time are the sequnce frame number(SFN) and subframe, respectively, at the time the configured uplinkgrant for periodic PUSCH were (re-)initialised.

The WTRU may clear the configured uplink grant immediately aftertransmitting the implicitReleaseAfter number of consecutive new PUSCHeach containing zero or empty PUSCH on the periodic PUSCH resource.

Disclosed herein are procedures for addressing collisions betweenCQI/PMI/RI reporting and HARQ-ACK/NACK. In case of a collision betweenperiodic PUSCH-based CQI/PMI/RI and HARQ ACK/NACK in the same subframe,CQI/PMI/RI is dropped if the parameter simultaneousAckNackAndCQIprovided by higher layers is set to FALSE. ACK/NAK is piggybacked on orattached to CQI/PMI/RI on periodic PUSCH resources otherwise.

Disclosed herein are procedures for addressing collisions betweenCQI/PMI/RI reporting and PUSCH data. A WTRU may transmit periodicCQI/PMI, or RI reporting on PUSCH (control) in subframes with no PUSCH(data) allocation. A WTRU may transmit periodic CQI/PMI or RI reportingon periodic PUSCH (control) in subframes with PUSCH (data) allocation,where the WTRU may use the same but aggregated PUCCH-based periodicCQI/PMI or RI reporting format on PUSCH (data). Alternatively a WTRU maytransmit periodic CQI/PMI or RI reporting on periodic PUSCH (control) insubframes with PUSCH (data) allocation, where the WTRU may use thePUSCH-based periodic CQI/PMI or RI reporting format on PUSCH (data).

Disclosed herein are procedures for addressing collisions betweenCQI/PMI/RI reporting and scheduling request (SR). In case of a collisionbetween CQI/PMI/RI and positive SR in a same subframe, SR is piggybackedon or attached to CQI/PMI/RI on periodic PUSCH resource. AlternativelyCQI/PMI/RI may be dropped and no periodic PUSCH is transmitted in thatsubframe if positive SR is in the subframe.

Disclosed herein are procedures for handling of measurement gaps forperiodic PUSCH. In a subframe that is part of a measurement gap, theWTRU should not perform the transmission of periodic PUSCH.

Disclosed herein are procedures for handling of discontinuous reception(DRX) for periodic PUSCH. If the WTRU is not in DRX Active Time,periodic PUSCH should not be transmitted and periodic CQI, PMI, CSI, RI,etc. carried on periodic PUSCH should not be reported.

Disclosed herein are methods for transmission of control data togetherwith user data in PUSCH. In an example, when clustered DFT-S-FDMA orOFDMA is used in the uplink and there is a single DFT and IFFT block,the PUCCH data may be multiplexed with data before the DFT.

In another example, when N×IFFT is used in the uplink and there areseparate DFT and IFFT blocks, then several methods may be used.

In one example method, separately coded control information may bemultiplexed with data before some or all of the DFT blocks. For example,separately coded CQI information corresponding to two downlink carrierscan be multiplexed with data before the DFT of the primary uplinkcarrier. Alternatively, if there is more than one uplink carrier, eachmay carry different control data corresponding to the downlink carriers.For example, uplink carrier 1 may transmit CQI information for downlinkcarriers 1-3, and uplink carrier 2 may transmit CQI information fordownlink carriers 4-5. In another method, different symbols of jointlycoded control information may be multiplexed with data before severalDFTs. In yet another method, the symbols of the same separately codedcontrol information may be multiplexed with data before several DFTs.Additionally, the same control information may be transmitted over allor some of the DFT-IFFT pairs to improve the coverage.

Disclosed herein are methods for transmitting UCI information usingPUCCH(s) and PUSCH. In LTE-A, the single-carrier constraint on the ULwaveform is relaxed by supporting frequency-non-contiguous RB allocationon each component carrier. In addition, it is assumed to allowconcurrent transmission of PUSCH and PUCCH from a WTRU, where UCI bitsare conveyed by the pre-specified PUCCH resources while data bits aretransmitted on PUSCH.

In one example, high volume UCI may be transmitted on both PUSCH andPUCCH(s) from a WTRU. If the WTRU does not have any data to betransmitted, then UCI is sent on PUS CH without UL data. For instance, aWTRU in DL CoMP may transmit UCI (including ACK/NACK, CQI/PMI/RI, andSR) associated with the serving (anchor) cell over the PUSCH intendedfor the serving cell, while in the same subframe the WTRU may transmitother control information (e.g., CQI/PMI) targeting non-serving (anchor)cells over a pre-specified PUCCH(s) for that recipient cell(s), orvice-versa.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of transmitting UCI on both PUCCH(s) andPUSCH from a WTRU in DL CoMP. In this example, it is assumed that theWTRU has UL-SCH data transmitted in the subframe. If the WTRU does nothave any data to be transmitted at that time, UCI is sent on PUSCHwithout UL data.

Alternatively or additionally, in the case of asymmetric carrieraggregation (e.g., 1 UL carrier and N DL carriers where N>1), the WTRUmay transmit UCI associated with the anchor carrier over either PUSCH orPUCCH(s). At the same time, the WTRU may transmit UCI for non-anchorcarrier(s) over the other physical channel (unused for the anchorcarrier)

It is anticipated that in LTE-A, the power setting for PUSCH and PUCCH,respectively, is done independently. In the case of transmitting UCIover both PUSCH and PUCCH(s), when Pmax is reached (i.e., the case ofnegative power headroom), power backoff procedures may need to be usedincluding equal power schemes, relative power schemes or priorityschemes. They may include the power backoff approach with equal power,relative power, or priority.

Alternatively or additionally, the WTRU may switch to multiple PUCCHresources as disclosed herein or transmit UCI on PUSCH only. The WTRUmay also piggyback the UCI signaling to Release 8 LTE.

Disclosed herein are methods for supporting simultaneous (periodic)PUCCH and (aperiodic) PUSCH transmission for UCI information. In Release8 LTE, in case of collision between periodic CQI/PMI/RI report andaperiodic CQI/PMI/RI, periodic CQI/PMI/RI reporting is dropped in thatsubframe. In LTE-A, in one example, the WTRU is configured to transmitboth the aperiodic report and periodic report in the same subframe froma WTRU, if necessary. For instance, in asymmetric carrier aggregation,the WTRU may be configured to perform periodic CQI/PMI/RI reportingassociated with the anchor carrier using PUCCH and to perform aperiodicCQI/PMI/RI reporting associated with non-anchor carrier(s) using thePUSCH, or vice versa, in the same subframe. When Pmax is reached (i.e.,the case of negative power headroom), the WTRU may piggyback on theRelease 8 LTE UCI signaling procedure.

Although features and elements are described above in particularcombinations, each feature or element can be used alone without theother features and elements or in various combinations with or withoutother features and elements. The methods or flow charts provided hereinmay be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmwareincorporated in a computer-readable storage medium for execution by ageneral purpose computer or a processor. Examples of computer-readablestorage mediums include a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory(RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magneticmedia such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-opticalmedia, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatiledisks (DVDs).

Suitable processors include, by way of example, a general purposeprocessor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, adigital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, amicrocontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),Application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs); Field Programmable GateArrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC),and/or a state machine.

A processor in association with software may be used to implement aradio frequency transceiver for use in a wireless transmit receive unit(WTRU), user equipment (UE), terminal, base station, Mobility ManagementEntity (MME) or Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or any host computer. TheWTRU may be used in conjunction with modules, implemented in hardwareand/or software including a Software Defined Radio (SDR), and othercomponents such as a camera, a video camera module, a videophone, aspeakerphone, a vibration device, a speaker, a microphone, a televisiontransceiver, a hands free headset, a keyboard, a Bluetooth® module, afrequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a Near Field Communication (NFC)Module, a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit, an organiclight-emitting diode (OLED) display unit, a digital music player, amedia player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and/orany Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) or Ultra Wide Band (UWB) module.

1-32. (canceled)
 33. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a processor configured to at least: receive, via a radio resource control (RRC) message, uplink control information (UCI) configuration information, wherein the UCI configuration information comprises a configuration of periodic PUSCH transmissions associated with periodic UCI reporting; receive a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission, wherein the first PDCCH transmission indicates activation of the periodic UCI reporting using the UCI configuration information, and wherein the PDCCH indicates PUSCH resources to be used for the periodic UCI reporting; and periodically report UCI using the UCI configuration information received via the RRC message and the PUSCH resources indicated via the first PDCCH transmission.
 34. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the UCI configuration information received via the RRC message indicates at least a periodicity to be used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 35. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the first PDCCH transmission further indicates a modulation and coding (MCS) scheme to be used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 36. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the PUSCH resources are semi-statically configured.
 37. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the PUSCH resources comprise at least one of a PUSCH resource size or a PUSCH resource block allocation.
 38. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the processor is further configured to measure the UCI.
 39. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a second PDCCH indicating deactivation of the periodic UCI reporting; and release the PUSCH resources used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 40. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the periodic UCI reporting reports one or more of channel quality information (CQI), a precoding matrix index (PMI), or a rank indicator (RI).
 41. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the periodic UCI reporting reports a wideband UCI or a sub-band UCI.
 42. The WTRU of claim 33, wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a first downlink control information (DCI).
 43. A method for reporting uplink control information (UCI), the method comprising: receiving, via a radio resource control (RRC) message, UCI configuration information, wherein the UCI configuration information comprises a configuration of periodic PUSCH transmissions associated with periodic UCI reporting; receiving a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission, wherein the first PDCCH transmission indicates activation of the periodic UCI reporting using the UCI configuration information, and wherein the PDCCH indicates PUSCH resources to be used for the periodic UCI reporting; and periodically reporting the UCI using the UCI configuration information received via the RRC message and the PUSCH resources indicated via the first PDCCH transmission.
 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the UCI configuration information received via the RRC message indicates at least a periodicity to be used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 45. The method of claim 43, wherein the first PDCCH transmission further indicates a modulation and coding (MCS) scheme to be used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 46. The method of claim 43, wherein the PUSCH resources are semi-statically configured.
 47. The method of claim 43, wherein the PUSCH resources comprise at least one of a PUSCH resource size or a PUSCH resource block allocation.
 48. The method of claim 43 further comprising measuring the UCI.
 49. The method of claim 43 further comprising: receiving a second PDCCH indicating deactivation of the periodic UCI reporting; and releasing the PUSCH resources used for the periodic UCI reporting.
 50. The method of claim 43, wherein the periodic UCI reporting reports one or more of channel quality information (CQI), a precoding matrix index (PMI), or a rank indicator (RI).
 51. The method of claim 43, wherein the periodic UCI reporting reports a wideband UCI or a sub-band UCI.
 52. The method of claim 43, wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a first downlink control information (DCI). 